


SOIYAAA Yamabuki

by Symantra



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Hanging Out, One Shot, Taiko - Freeform, Teaching, Teaching Saya Taiko, saya considers having abs and doesn't wholly reject the idea, saya struggles to lift heavy objects with her wimpy dough-like arms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26481469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Symantra/pseuds/Symantra
Summary: Shipment day at the bakery usually doesn't involve Saya having to carry 200 pounds of flour all by herself. She isn't the strongest person in the shopping district, but that's when Tomoe comes by.If there's one thing Tomoe is notorious for besides her title (of questionable origins) as "the strongest girl in all of Japan," it's that she'll never shut up about the muscle-building properties of taiko drumming.And this time, she's taking Saya along with her.
Relationships: Udagawa Tomoe & Yamabuki Saaya
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14
Collections: Free Story Sundays





	SOIYAAA Yamabuki

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thedailythoughtsoftsugumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedailythoughtsoftsugumi/gifts).



Elbow grease. Elbow grease. Suck in a breath, crouch down, use her center of mass. Be buttered like bread, and—lift!

This time, Saya got the box off the ground and into her arms, and she stumbled backward, taking small steps to rotate herself around.

“Door, door!” Her dad called as he walked out of it without the shipment he had brought in earlier. He stood to one side and helped Saya get through the bakery’s narrow entranceway. “Okay, you’re good. Leave it in the back like usual.”

“Th-thanks,” Saya grunted. She walked as quickly as she could to the kitchen and shoved the box onto the counter next to the other.

“God,” she muttered, panting and eyeing the source of all her woe. Flour weighed so much when you packed this much of it into one box.

How was it that she could stand up easily with Sana on her back and Jun in her arms yet struggle to hold a 50-pound bag of flour? It couldn’t be the power of love, because Saya loved flour too. She loved baking! She loved bread! So why?!

“I am out of shape,” she finally admitted. She tipped her head back and sighed, then got ready to go out and grab another.

On her way out to the delivery truck, she stepped aside to let her dad move in his third box.

“Halfway done,” he remarked to her as he passed. “Keep it up, Saya.”

Behind her smile, Saya’s heart quavered. The word “halfway” put the fear of god in her heart. Of based, flour-based god.

Climbing into the truck, she looked over the rest of the shipment and singled out a lone cargo box.

“I’ll just get a smaller one this time...”

“Ohh, Saya!”

At the sound of a familiar voice, Saya poked her head out of the back of the truck and saw Tomoe walking up to her with a shopping bag.

“Tomoe,” Saya greeted her with a wave and customer-service-pro smile. Sometimes she got compliments for it, too. “How are you?”

“I’m good. Just bought some croquettes for Ako. It’s her birthday tomorrow, and I’m getting her these so she’s even more surprised when she gets her actual present.” Tomoe smiled a loving grin.

“Is that going to work...?” Saya had her doubts, though. Ako may be childish, but was she still at the age where she wouldn’t bat an eye getting food as a birthday present? Wasn’t that a trend with, like, babies to begin with?

Tomoe didn’t hear her, or pretended not to. “Bakery restocking?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Saya confirmed. “We’re just about out of a few ingredients like flour and salt.”

“Ooh, gotcha. You want some help unloading all that?”

Saya’s heart could have grown wings and soared. Tomoe was offering her help? The strongest girl in all of Japan, or at least in this shopping district?

“Would you? That’d be amazing.”

“Sure. Lemme put this bag inside and I’ll lend you a hand.”

Saya led her inside so she could put her bag down while Saya dropped off her box. Her dad had stopped at the register to do something, and he looked up as Tomoe set her croquettes down.

“Ah! Hello there, Tomoe-chan.”

“Good afternoon, Yamabuki-san.”

“You here to buy something? We’re not open just yet.”

“Nah, I’m just helping out.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Saya and I could really use your help. You’re a delight to have around as always.”

Once they were outside again, they approached the truck, and Tomoe assessed the situation. “Let’s get this heavy one,” she suggested, already pulling a big box out of the truck. “There are two of us, so we can leave the smaller ones to your dad.”

Saya paled. She was sure her arms were still shaking from earlier. But she nodded and stood opposite of Tomoe and grabbed the underside edge.

“Alright. One, two—three!”

They pulled, and the box dipped dangerously close to the ground. But Tomoe kept it from falling, holding it up like a car tipping off the edge of a cliff in a movie.

“S-Saya? You got it?” She grunted. Saya strained, unable to keep it up at Tomoe’s height.

“No,” Saya wheezed. “Put it down—”

She gasped as Tomoe lowered her stance and dropped the box to the ground. She stood up to regain her breath, and Saya doubled over.

“Am I too tall for you?” Tomoe asked, a shred of a faint smile on her face.

“No, it’s just—heavy, that’s all.”

“I thought you’d be like, buff, if you’ve gotta do this every week or so.” Tomoe started laughing. Saya crossed her arms, embarrassed.

While Tomoe wasn’t looking, she pinched her upper arm looking for some muscle. She discovered nothing outstanding.

“We don’t get deliveries like this every week,” she confessed. “Plus, we have a hand truck, but it broke last time, and we just haven’t gotten it fixed yet.”

“Mm, I see.” Tomoe nodded. “Not good at lifting heavy stuff?”

“Nope, not at all.” Saya half-smiled and waved her hand in front of her face. She never had been, unless her kid siblings counted as heavy stuff.

“Wanna build some muscle?” Tomoe flexed her arms with a grin. “They don’t call me ‘strongest in the shopping district’ for nothing.”

Laughter bubbled out of Saya. “I dunno,” she said as she caught her breath. “Working out isn’t really for me.”

“No, seriously. Do you even exercise enough?” Tomoe squinted at her. “Saya, you could have _abs_.”

Saya sobered up for a second. Imagining herself in front of a mirror, lifting her shirt, clenching her gut until it creased—

“Nuh uh,” she stammered. “Me? There’s no way. Ahaha...”

“Say, the community taiko band is always open to anyone who’s interested.” Tomoe’s eyes sparkled. Seemed she wasn’t paying Saya’s protest any mind. “Why don’t you come by?”

“T-taiko? I dunno if I can handle that...”

“It’s fine, we’ve got lots of beginners. The vets are always willing to teach newbies.” Tomoe put an arm over her shoulder and slapped her on the back. “It’s okay if it’s just a one-time thing. You don’t have to make any commitments to join in.”

Saya sucked on her lip. She didn’t know a thing about playing taiko besides the fact that it wasn’t much like playing on a drum kit.

While she was busy hesitating, Tomoe took it as a cue to continue.

“Come by the Ryuujin House tonight at 4 pm, ‘kay?” she said, pointing down the street. “You know where that is? Down on Yaku Street, by Santelli’s?”

Saya nodded. And inadvertently, she sealed her fate.

“Alright!” Tomoe winked and gave her a thumbs up. “I’ll see you there! You don’t need to bring anything. Just wear workout clothes.”

With that, Tomoe’s arm slipped away. “Oh, we still gotta move this thing in. C’mon, help me out here Saya.”

“I-I’ll try my best!”

They tried again. As they carried the box inside the bakery, Saya thought about the mirror again, and the box she was carrying. Maybe if she took Tomoe up on her offer...

Nah, who was she kidding? It’d take more than an hour of taiko to get to that point.

But still, maybe it was worth giving it a shot.

At least she’d be getting some exercise.

* * *

“Raise your arms higher!”

An easily projected voice reached all the way into the back of the community room, where Saya stretched her arm into the air.

“There we go. And ready, ichi, ni, san, hai _!_ ”

As in time as she could, Saya swung her arm into the taiko drum propped up at 45 degrees before her, which she now knew as a chu daiko. Her bachi, drumstick, hit the drumskin with a twang.

The rest of the drums sounded different. A lot more full—resonant? Whatever it was, Saya frowned. They all had the same equipment and were hitting the same drums.

Tomoe noticed her having a hard time and came over while everyone else followed the training pattern they were doing.

“Don’t you want to keep up with everyone else?” Saya half-yelled to be heard over the din.

“I know this one like the back of my hand,” Tomoe said with a grin. “When you hit the drum, don’t swing.”

Lifting her hand, she demonstrated. Her arm bent at the elbow, drew in close to her body, and stopped before the face of the drum.

Saya observed then got into her stance to try it herself. Tomoe stepped back—a good call, because Saya hit the drum with another dull thwack.

“Uh, okay.” Tomoe took a few seconds to think. Feeling a bit silly, Saya got out of her stance and put her bachi together. “Okay. To visualize it better, pretend there’s a wall in front of you. Move your arm between you and the wall.”

Tomoe did it again. Saya watched and noticed how her arm didn’t move out in front of her; it stayed parallel to her chest. “Try that.”

Saya tried it herself, slowly. Tomoe nodded after she made it all the way to the face of the drum.

“Okay. Do that, but this time hit the drum at the end.”

Saya got back into her stance—it really felt weird to hit these drums just standing up—and attempted it. This time, her hit sounded less like she was kicking a pillow and more like a quiet but clean _dwong_.

“Yeah, good. It’s the same with your left hand. Now try to keep up and follow the ji if you can.”

Tomoe returned to her own drum, which was right in front of Saya’s. The two of them jumped into the pattern, and Saya did her best to follow the ji—the beat of the smaller shime daiko that kept the rhythm.

As a whole, the taiko group at Ryuujin House was very hands off with its non-regular members. It was nice that they weren’t suffocating, though if she were here by herself she’d be overwhelmed by the amount of stuff she didn’t know. If not for Tomoe basically claiming her as her protégé, Saya probably would have been in over her head.

Taiko really worked up a sweat, too. Saya strained her arms to stay at a perfect 45-degree angle.

“Lower your stances!” The practice leader yelled out.

Saya exhaled shakily and bent her knees more, inviting the burn into her legs.

* * *

Two and a half hours later, she slumped against the outside of the best ramen place in the shopping district with a groan. The muscles in her legs, arms, fingers, and even her neck all ached.

“You didn’t tell me it would be that much of a workout.” She exhaled as she spoke. “And for three hours straight?!”

“We took breaks in between!” Tomoe protested, calling to mention the three water breaks.

“Oh yeah, the three five-minute water breaks,” Saya specified. She hadn’t brought water, either, so she had only gotten sips from Tomoe. “You’re all insanely durable. I mean, I always knew you were, but you really do fit right in with them. How do you all do it?”

Tomoe shrugged, smiling. “Once you get used to the movements, it becomes a lot easier. I can’t run a mile without flagging, but I could play taiko for hours.”

“You and everybody in that room except me, I’m sure,” Saya added, her brow drawn together for a wry smile.

Tomoe put her hands together. “I’m sorry! Here, I’ll make it up to you; your ramen’s on me tonight.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I insist. It’s as thanks for letting me drag you along.”

Tomoe smiled, but it was a softer expression than usual. Saya stepped away from the doorway to the ramen house, which radiated a little too much heat.

“Yeah, sure. I had fun. Thanks for inviting me, Tomoe.”


End file.
